The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connector systems, and more particularly, to methods and systems for reducing mating forces between electrical connectors.
Some electrical connector systems utilize electrical connectors to interconnect two circuit boards to one another. In some applications, the circuit boards may be oriented perpendicular to one another with the circuit boards arranged in either a backplane arrangement or in a midplane arrangement with one of the circuit boards being a midplane circuit board. In either arrangement, typically multiple connector halves are mated together simultaneously.
There is a trend to increase the density of electrical connectors to accommodate higher data transmission speeds. The increase in contacts associated with the increased density leads to increased mating forces when mating each of the connectors together. Having multiple connectors mating simultaneously compounds the mating forces required to mate the connector assemblies together. To address the high mating forces, some known systems have been developed that have contacts of different lengths to create a sequenced mating interface. However, such systems are not without disadvantages. For example, it is costly to design, tool and manufacture connectors that, have different lengths of contacts. Additionally, the mating interface of the connectors is more complicated and requires a corresponding mating half, making such connectors less robust.